A touch of modern, leaning towards traditional with a lot of French influence. I wanted our dining room to be the eclectic and slightly strange mix some of my favorite eras in design, while still incorporating some of my existing collection of antiques and vintage artwork.

May I be the first to admit that it has taken me too long to finish this room! Now, it's still not finished yet, but I'm planning to finally purchase the fabrics and pay to have the drapes made next month. When that element is complete, you will definitely be seeing an update. For the time being, let's look at what has been completed.

From the get go, I had big plans for the dining room in our Seattle cottage (#ourseattlecottage). This is the first time I've ever had a formal dining area and I really wanted to enjoy that opportunity. The first order of business was to find a beautiful, oval wooden table that could extend for dinner parties. I scored big when I found the oval, expandable Drexel Heritage table on Chairish for a really great deal. Our first week in Seattle I rented a Zip Van and dragged my husband out to Woodenville to pick up the table that was literally almost new (the owner had it for 30 years and kept the cover on it for the entire time). I also found a very inexpensive set of Chromcraft chairs ($125 for all 6) on Craigslist that we picked up on the same trip to the eastside. I know, they were pretty ugly at first and not what I initially imagined for my dining room chairs, but I had a vision for them. I knew exactly what I could do to make them fab. I also kind of love that NO ONE else has them. I mean, they're around but I've never seen them used in this way, and I think that's kind of cool.

Fast forward to a year and a half later... The chairs have been refinished to a dark ebony color and recovered in a Kelly Wearstler feline print. The walls are painted a deep warm gray (after I had originally painted them a lighter shade of gray), it's La Paloma Gray by Benjamin Moore. The Chinese screen my mother gave us is hung on the wall, and after many months debating on what buffet to set in the room I found a small buffet cabinet in Kirkland, WA from Oscar & Co. Our pink antique salon chairs from Brimfield even found their perfect place flanking the buffet. I found the brass 'juju hat' style sculpture (also) on Chairish for a little added drama over my Paris map. The light fixture is the Sinnerlig pendant lamp from Ikea, I chose this because of its scale and how it references the caning in the chairs. And last but not least, as I mentioned above, the last very big detail left to finish are the window treatments, which I plan to do in floor to ceiling drapes with the Schumacher Pyne Hollyhock fabric.

If you're questioning where I'm getting the French influences, here's the breakdown. The first, most obvious layer is the Map of Paris that hangs over the Provincial style side board, flanked by my small French salon chairs. Secondly, is the chinoiserie details, although they can be considered very English, the screen reminds me a lot of the screens that line the walls in Coco Chanel's Parisian flat [here]. Eclectic you ask? Well, there are definitely a few elements that lean English, like the dining table, and drapes will be a chintz style drapery that is also very English in aesthetic. The modern pendant light is designed for Ikea by the contemporary designer Ilse Crawford of London. The dining chairs, although they are 100% American in style (more like American 1950s Diner style), they reference some of my favorite chairs, the Hoffman chairs designed in collaboration by Josef Hoffman and Josef Frank that were originally built by Michael Thonet in 1861. And lastly, the cushion fabrics are quite modern as this fabric was designed by Kelly Wearstler, an American interior designer.

Cream + White Rooms, Designing Serene Spaces

As with all design, we want to create spaces that are interesting with a sense of depth to them. White and cream rooms can be very flat, however if focus is set on the subtle details, you can create a space that is both soothing and serene.